[78-L] Brass Band keys

[David Lennick]

Thanks, Dr. Langfield! I've sampled each of the discs to be transferred and 
have noted the keys in which they play and the lower key to be questioned (see 
below) and to me, going down makes sense for all except the 4-part 
"Blackfriars" piece, which rambles all over the scale before finally settling 
on something and which seems to suffer from faulty tape playback..it actually 
sounds terrible when played 4% down. If anyone knows this music, please feel 
free to chime in.

MEYERBEER arr H. R. MORETON: ROBERT LE DIABLE
		plays in d flat..should be C Minor?

DVORAK SLAVONIC DANCE #8 IN G MINOR plays in F#, should be F?
GAY CAVALIER (Jack Beaver) plays in B, should be B Flat?

HANDEL arr. A. WOOD: ROYAL FIREWORKS MUSIC
		plays in A, should be A Flat?

GALOPADE (King Palmer) should be in C?
KINDER SCOUT (Hespe) should be in B Flat?

BLACKFRIARS pts. 1-4 (Edric Cundell, arr. F. Wright)
		this is a mystery..plays in A, should be A Flat? down 4%
		also, full of wow and pitch wobble even when centered

B.B. & C.F. (Ord Hume) plays in A flat minor, should be G minor?
JOYS OF SPORT (Peter Dennis) plays in A, should be A flat?

SLEIGH RIDE (Anderson) B, should be B flat?
WELSH FANTASY (Maldwyn Price) plays in C#, should be C?

BUGLER'S HOLIDAY (Anderson) B, should be B flat?
BOLERO BRILLANTE (Henry Geehl) B, should be B flat?

dl

Valerie Langfield wrote:
> OK, I've contacted a colleague who is librarian for another brass band.
> 
> He confirms Buglers' Holiday as B flat concert.
> 
> Both the arrangements he has of the Dvorak are in F minor concert. (I've 
> realised I was muttering about F major, when I meant F minor; sorry.)
> 
> The Ord Hume piece is also in B flat concert.
> 
> He has also given me information on the change in pitch. For decades, 
> for brass bands, concert A was almost a semitone higher than A=440; the 
> situation began to change in the mid 1960s, but it took a long time; it 
> meant either putting in an extension tube, which for all sorts of 
> reasons (to do with intonation) isn't very satisfactory, or replacing 
> all the band's instruments (expensive). Your recordings, if they date 
> from the 1950s, would have been in high pitch.
> 
> So, after all that - over to you!! I'm not sure whether any of this is 
> going to be consistent with what you've found. But those are the keys.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Valerie
> 
>> Playing the Dvorak in F Minor would mean a consistent speed adjustment 
>> with the
>> Leroy Anderson and other pieces, namely 3% down (or so). This is odd for
>> recordings made as late as 1954 and 1955, and while I've had it happen 
>> on other
>> recordings, it was always with European tapes played back incorrectly on US
>> tape decks and issued by small labels like Remington. But let's see how 
>> they sound.
>>
>> Hmm..I know a trumpet playing orchestra leader in Buffalo (classical) who's an
>> expert on concert band repertoire. He may know this repertoire.
>>
>> dl
>>
>> Valerie Langfield wrote:
>>> Because playing in B major is a really really odd thing to do. The B
>>> flat instruments would play in D flat - 2 semitones above the B, but
>>> that's actually a diminished 3rd rather than a major 2nd, (rather than C
>>> sharp major); the E flat instruments in A flat major (but should really
>>> be G sharp major, the minor 3rd below B) and the poor bass trombone, the
>>> only one to play in concert pitch, would play in B - oh, it may well be
>>> that in those days, the other trombones were still playing in concert
>>> (it changed). It would give even Harry M a headache, since his score
>>> would make him blink a bit with such a variety of odd-looking keys.
>>>
>>> But I'm re-thinking the Dvorak. It would be fine for that to be in
>>> concert F (yes, a full tone below the original), so people would play in
>>> G major, D major, and trombones in F; that's still sufficiently
>>> sympathetic key-wise. How would that pan out with your pitch variance?
>>> (I'm making enquiries to try to confirm that.)
>>>
>>> Valerie
>>>
>>>> Okay (he said, avoiding the phrase "playing devil's advocate
>>>> here")..since this
>>>> recording was made by an all-star brass band, conducted by Harry
>>>> Mortimer, what
>>>> if it WAS arranged and played in B so they could show off? From the same
>>>> sessions, Sleigh Ride and Bolero Brillante (Henry Geehl) also play 
>>>> in B unless
>>>> I slow the discs down more than 3 percent, and Welsh Fantasy (Maldwyn Price)
>>>> plays in C# (or D Flat..I told you I don't know anything about brass
>>>> instruments).
>>>>
>>>> dl
>>>>
>>>> Jeff Sultanof wrote:
>>>>> >From an arranger's standpoint, what you say is correct, Valerie. Brass
>>>>> instruments are generally pitched in Bb, so flat keys are far more common
>>>>> for concert and brass band repertoire.
>>>>>
>>>>> Which is why such a big deal was made about Fletcher Henderson writing in
>>>>> sharp keys - musicians playing sax, trumpet and trombone were not as versed
>>>>> in such keys, and they used to have to woodshed these arrangements to make
>>>>> them sound properly.
>